Festus Keyamo, human rights lawyer, has asked the federal high court, Abuja, to stop the federal government’s plans to concession the Pot-Harcourt refinery to two international oil companies, AGIP and Oando, saying it is “an attempt to secretly allocate a national asset to private concerns”.

In the suit, filed on behalf of 20 civil society organizations, Keyamo argued that the agreement between the ministry of petroleum resources and the oil companies to “repair, operate and maintain” the refinery did not comply with the provisions of sections 4(1) and (2), 5(a) and (b) of the Infrastructural Concession Regulatory Commission, ICRC, (Establishment, Etc) Act, 2005.

The minister of state for petroleum resources, attorney general of the federation, AGIP and Oando, were named as first, second, third and fourth respondents respectively.

The human rights lawyer had earlier written to the petroleum ministry, under the Freedom of Information, FOI, Act, demanding that details of the so-called concession agreement be made public. He also wrote to the ICRC to know whether the commission was part of the agreement.

“The Director General of the Infrastructural Concession Regulatory Commission … confirmed the agreement between the Defendants (ministry of petroleum resources and the oil companies) but stated that the Infrastructural Concession Regulatory Commission only read about the action of the Defendants in ThisDay Newspaper of 21^st May, 2017 and the Commission is not part of the said action as it was not consulted,” read an affidavit deposed to by Yohanna Shankuk, a litigation officer in Festus Keyamo chambers.

The ICRC Act provides that before any concession agreement is reached, the government must publish it in at least three national newspapers having wide circulation in Nigeria and invite open competitive public bid for such project or contract approved under the Act.

“…in the purported concession of the Port-Harcourt Refinery there was no advertisement, no public invitation to bid, no stated criteria for selecting Agip Oil Company Ltd /ENI and Oando Plc,” the affidavit read in part.

Keyamo on behalf of his clients wants the court to hold “that the decision by the first and second defendants to enter into an agreement with the third and fourth defendants to repair, operate and maintain the Port Harcourt refinery without recourse to the Infrastructural Concession Regulatory Commission is illegal, null and void in view of the provisions of sections 4(1) and (2), 5(a) and (b) of the Infrastructural Concession Regulatory Commission (Establishment, Etc) Act.”

The plaintiffs also prayed the court to grant “an order of injunction restraining the 1^st and 2^nd Defendants, their agents, privies, assigns howsoever called from Concessioning the Port-Harcourt Refinery without recourse to the provisions of the Infrastructural Concession Regulatory Commission (Establishment, Etc) Act, 2005.”